the gift of a sweet-faced cat

"...the baby was screaming
because I wouldn't let him eat my cigarettes,
a tiger cat leaped over the fence,
smiled at my wife,
let my baby pull his tail...

Now God give every man who's hopeless
a beautiful wife,
an infant son who sings,
and the gift of a sweet-faced cat. "

~Ed Ochester, "The Gift"

Kitten Update
Since his eyes have opened, Little Charlie has discovered his nice, big hands. He sits for minutes on end, gazing at them, flexing one, then the other. I am going to be a BIG BOY , he is thinking. These magnificent long-toed mitts, they're mine !

Little Chessie * has the soul of a generous empath; her face is the face of kindness newborn. Talk to her and she looks sweetly into your eyes, wrinkling her brow in a quizzical, bemused way that furrows her forehead into little vertical lines and pulls her round ears close together. Little Chessie is trying to understand. Like her namesake, she is growing a large nose.

Little Nosegay, ** he is the daydreamer. The other three can be tumbling and clamoring over each other, but Little Nosegay, he is sitting off to the side, gazing at some shiny bauble of an idea three inches up in the air. Why is one of my ears half tabby and half milk? Why does each of my whiskers play its own separate music?

Look at Little Weakie's face, and you'll drop right over, charmed half to death. Little Weakie will always be able to get by on her looks, and therefore may become lazy someday. The middle of her face is a tiny white Tour D'Eiffel . Her brown tabby markings are parted in the middle, brought back behind her ears, like a little girl would do with her hair. The back of her head, seen from above, is the most entertaining of the four: a Russian sable hat with ears. Pick Little Weakie up and she starts grunting like a miniature pig: uff uff uff uff!

Turn the squeaky doorknob, walk into the kitten room. All four sit up, smiling expectantly, rocking slightly in a cluster like a time-lapse film of growing sprouts. Eight square blue eyes are upon you.